"Vain Man" and the Virtuous Woman: Hannah Woolley's Battle for Equality

In 1673, writer Hannah Woolley published The Gentlewoman’s Companion. It is a remarkable work that offers a wealth of guidance to the young women of her time. Her goal was to produce a truly comprehensive work, and it begins with a pointed critique of society: men, she says, have come to deeply underestimate women and their potential. Her work is both a practical manual and a bold challenge to the limitations placed on the women of her era.

When it comes to our youngest women, today, the vast majority of children globally are enrolled in school, with 92% of boys and 90% of girls attending. Although the gap is closing, it has not disappeared entirely. Here is what Ms. Woolley had to say about our common potential:

The right Education of the Female Sex, as it is in a manner everywhere neglected, so it ought to be generally lamented. Most in this depraved later Age think a Woman learned and wife enough, if she can distinguish her Husband’s Bed from another’s. Certainly Man’s Soul cannot boast of a more sublime Original than ours, they had equally their efflux from the same Eternal Immensity, and therefore capable of the same Improvement by good Education. Vain Man is apt to think that we were merely intended for the World’s propagation, and to keep its human Inhabitants sweet and clean; but, by their leaves, had we the same Literature, he would find our brains as fruitful as our bodies. Hence I am induced to believe, we are debarred from the knowledge of Human Learning, lest our pregnant Wits should rival the towering conceits of our insulting Lords and Masters.

In Ms. Woolley’s time, education for women was widely forsaken. Our author laments the common belief that a woman's education need only extend to her fidelity to her husband. Instead, it is a woman’s soul, originating from the same source as a man’s, that is equally capable of intellectual development. Men, she contends, often limit women's education out of fear that their intellectual capabilities might rival or surpass their own.

The ongoing struggle for intellectual recognition may be familiar to our readers. While we have indeed made significant progress, disparities still exist in access to education and the valuation of women's intellectual contributions. Women often thrive in traditional roles if they so choose them, but such roles can coexist with a rich intellectual life and an educated mind. True equality is not merely political; it requires not only opportunity, but a shift in societal perceptions of our intelligence and potential.